Evan Mayerle posted a comment on Friday 10th February 2006 2:10pm

Very interesting chapter. It's going to be very interesting to see how this evolves; I assume the dosing was to distract attention while Quirell/Voldemort made a try for the stone; but that still leaves the question of how they entered Harry's dream. Definitely more "wheels within wheels" here.

ridmania posted a comment on Friday 10th February 2006 8:55am

awesome stuff!!! keep up the awesome work!!!

Jim_xinu posted a comment on Friday 10th February 2006 6:44am

Didn't you have some one simply called the Scribe guarding the Hufflepuff dorms? Because you refer to: "the portrait of Helga Hufflepuff snoozed in her frame". Unless Helga's on the inside of the door...

That was the *best* version of the midnight duel ever! Potter the Peacemaker.

I love the way you've gone ahead and changed things quite a bit--much more interesting than the typical first year AU.

You've done a really good job here of capturing the same kind of wit JKR uses.

Your Quirrell is much more effective than JKR's. :-)

Very impressive chapter. I really enjoyed it.

Ishtar replied:

Helga is in a portrait hanging over the fireplace in the Common Room. The Scribe is the door warden, yes.

There will be ramifications from that duel. And I'm hoping my Quirrell will be a bit scarier by the time I'm done ...

red jacobson1 posted a comment on Friday 10th February 2006 6:28am

loved it Dorothy! I can't wait to see what Remus and Sirius have to say about the events of Halloween.

I find it interesting that Snape isn't quite as much of a git in this story. He is still not somebody I'd like to meet in reality, but he's not the bogeyman of canon in this version of the story.

Looking forward to more
(I would really love to know what Percy was thinking when he made his comment about Duck Spanking!)

red

Ishtar replied:

I'd think Remus and Sirius (and a lot of other concerned parents) are going to be banging on Dumbledore's office door wonder what in tarnation is going on in that school?!

Snape still isn't a *nice* person, but he's not quite so much of a bastard.

And Percy's duck spanking line ... you'd have to ask my husband. It was his insanity that spawned that. Pity me, I have to live with him.

Mickey posted a comment on Friday 10th February 2006 6:27am

Very nice, glad to see you're not insisting on keep the story in the same mold as JKR's.
I really liked the dream sequence, although it's too bad Snape knows about the Maradures. I don't suppose they could make a deal with him to keep quiet as long as they restrict themselvs to retaletory pranks?

Ishtar replied:

We've all read fifty versions of first year that are the same but for minor details. I wanted to have one that started from the same point but diverged widely. Here, very broad plot lines remain the same but everyone's making different decisions (e.g., Dumbledore sets up the gauntlet leading to the Stone, but it's all different challenges), and the story changes accordingly. It will diverge even more in later years.

hedwig_edwiges posted a comment on Friday 10th February 2006 6:27am

Nice going! Fluffly will make an appearance now? And this get more complicate but we can still expect Lord Thingy living under the turbant, right? I just hope you don't take to long to update.

Ken Warner posted a comment on Friday 10th February 2006 5:57am

what a lot of things you have happening in this chapter - and the multitude of direction that you can take with it - Not a chance of me spitting out the hook here - I will just have to hold my breath for the next update
Thanks

Gardengirl posted a comment on Friday 10th February 2006 2:54am

Worth the wait! Thanks - love the alternate Halloween, and can hardly wait to find out what all significance you hid in Harry's hallucinations.

Dave Harris posted a comment on Friday 10th February 2006 2:17am

Well that was rather weird and full of off-beat shenanigans, wasn't it?

I understand that there's some necessary deviation from canon, but the introduction of a chimera in the East Tower (as oppposed to Fluffy in the third floor corridor) is intriguing - I can only assume you have a particular plot point forming out of it!

I was a bit disappointed that the Marauders were outed so soon, but I'm interested in Snape's apparent acceptance of Harry - you'd think he would still be annoyed at him, but I suppose that if Snape's been considered more-or-less a hero for the past ten years, he might have a different attitude...

Looking forward to the next chapter!

Ishtar replied:

The chimaera plot point runs thus: Fire-breathing chimaera --> scorched Quirrell (instead of bitten Snape) BUT was Quirrell scorched by it or by the Fire Flowers in the greenhouse? Or did Quirrell just *claim* it was the Fire Flowers? What's next now that the chimaera's dead? And why did it kill itself? (That last should be easy to figure out.) I always felt it should have been Kettleburn, as CoMC teacher at the time, who should have been primarily involved with protecting the Stone rather than Hagrid, and if there's anybody who could create or breed a magical creature like a chimaera, it would be him. But of course the first we hear of Kettleburn in canon is when he's retiring, so I wanted to have a little more for him here.

Snape knows who the Marauders are, but he hasn't really told others. There was so much chaos going on in the Great Hall that a lot of people missed it or weren't paying attention. And two of the Marauders weren't identified. So there's still the possibility of mayhem in the future. And yeah, after almost ten years of being a "hero", Snape has kind of a different attitude about it now. Even he wouldn't wish that on a kid. Particularly a Hufflepuff that likes potions, even if he is a Potter ...

Ronnie McMains posted a comment on Friday 10th February 2006 1:58am

Thank you for posting this! Do you have any idea how long your husband has been torturing us with Percy's duck spanking quote?

On the other hand, you seem to have made a slight error. To wit:

Wait until you’ve got the Quaffle and the Bludgers zooming around, and fifteen other players to keep an eye on. It’s a lot harder then."

Shouldn't that be 13?

Ishtar replied:

Quite right. It's been fixed. Thanks.

I hope the duck spanking thing was worth waiting for. It's really all his fault, you know. He came up with the line and I found a home for it. He's also responsible for the back-street gerbilmancer and the avocado animagus.

stu posted a comment on Tuesday 7th February 2006 4:25pm

i am glad that you skipped having ron as his friend, i hate when stories change things about harry's childhood and then have the same friends, he would not have met ron if he knew how to get on the platform or had someone else to show him, keep up the good work and i am looking forward to your next update

stu posted a comment on Tuesday 7th February 2006 3:16pm

well i love how you are rectifing your story to canon as much as you can it is one of the best prehogwarts strories i have come across i look forward to your updates and wish you the best of luck with it

stu posted a comment on Tuesday 7th February 2006 1:57pm

aaah you made snape a hero, noooooooooo!!!

stu posted a comment on Tuesday 7th February 2006 12:55pm

i am enjoying your story so far and i know that you said that it is au and you were changing some things but i wanted to point out that the weasleys were not in the order the first go around. interesting i agree that the canon timeline is a little impossible as written, i am wodering how you are going to rectify the lucius malfoy you have written now with the one we have met in the second and fifth book, good luck with your story

Ishtar replied:

True about the Weasleys. I missed the little thing about "1990's only" when I checked the Lexicon for Order members. But I don't think it affects much here. I used Arthur here to establish that the Weasley/Malfoy thing goes a looong way back. The Weasley sons are obviously not members yet.

Lucius's actions are more extreme than in canon - in canon, claiming imperius was enough to get out from under when things went to pot; in the AU, he needed actual help given Bellatrix's possession of the list, so he had to make an alliance. This will, of necessity, change the nature of his relationship with the Ministry and the Death Eaters in coming years - he's going to be very anti-Voldemort because he has no other choice at this point. But he's still not a Nice Person by any means, and will get what's coming to him.

Aaran St Vines posted a comment on Tuesday 7th February 2006 7:46am

Ch.8 - - Now this was a compelling chapter. Snape giving Harry the benefit of the doubt was delightfully different.

The New Marauders from four different houses is ripe with potential.

The tests say I'm a Gryffindor, but I admire the 'Puffs quite a bit.

Clever girl!

Aaran St Vines posted a comment on Tuesday 7th February 2006 7:08am

Ch.7 - - Oh, what a delightful time.

Setting up Snape is just terrific. I hope it happens in the next chapter so I don't have to wait to see what happens.

For a second I though you might be setting it so Harry and Draco would be friends - YEECH!

Thsi is SOOOOOOOOOOO fine!

Aaran St Vines posted a comment on Tuesday 7th February 2006 6:39am

Ch.6 - - Brilliant, brilliant, brilliant, brilliant, BRILLIANT!

The most fun for me in writing fanfiction is creating new concepts and explaining how something came about, basically new concepts to explain existing constructs.

This story is packed, stacked, and racked with the innovative good stuff. Having a house-elf turn a page for Peter is a wonderful attention to detail. The reason the elves and Harry could not be seen wasextremely brilliant. I am running out of superlatives. The idea of Peter the Ghost teaching Harry about being a wizard was superlative. (Winking emoticon)

I'm impressed!

Aaran St Vines posted a comment on Tuesday 7th February 2006 5:14am

Ch.5 - - This is just tooooooooo clever! To the extreme.

I cannot believe how many gaping canon holes you filled in an AU way. The Grindelwald explanation was very original. I have no need for it in any stories I plan, but I have thought of an equivalent sort of explanation of that war.

Remus writing Muggle witchcraft related fiction is choice. Peter as a ghost is amazing - of course he'd be afraid of death.

But Snape as a hero - now I am floored with the brilliance of that idea.

Cheers!

Aaran St Vines posted a comment on Tuesday 7th February 2006 3:51am

Ch.4- - I CANNOT believe you have Lucius Malfoy doing something this good, even for his own self-promotion. Don't misunderstand, I am not complaining, but you are shattering iconic images left and right.

Just fascinating!

Ishtar replied:

Don't worry, he's still a bastige and will eventually get what's coming to him. He's just being totally Slytherin - out for #1.

Aaran St Vines posted a comment on Tuesday 7th February 2006 2:59am

Ch.3 - - The best step-by-step of what happened on that fateful day that I have read.

That Voldie would have been more human back then had not crossed my mind, but he still was - much more so than he would have been in any incarnations during books 1-6. Fine writing acknowledging that fact.

I am writing a tale where Harry becomes much more familiar with house-elf magic. I may have to stop reading your tale here if you get too good for me to read it and remain objective to write my own story. I have a feeling your will be too good not to influence me.

Hope I don't have to stop!